


Hunk: Yellow Paladin

by ElfGrove



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Gen, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-10 08:42:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11123727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElfGrove/pseuds/ElfGrove
Summary: Archiving from my tumblr flash fics. Fanart Response Ficlet. -- Shiro gets into a tough spot and Hunk's heroism shines through.





	1. Hunk's View

**Author's Note:**

> A fanart response ficlet to JasJuliet: http://jasjuliet.tumblr.com/post/147913423222/
> 
> Fic originally posted here: http://elfgrove.tumblr.com/post/147927031693

“Shiro?” Hunk’s voice was a hesitant whisper as he turned his head this way and that, searching for the Paladins’ leader.

_No sign of him. This was bad. They were supposed to meet back up with Lance and Pidge soon before getting out of this hellhole the Galra called a work camp._

Hunk went back up a little ways along the corridor they’d been moving along. His voice was a hoarse whisper, wanting to get Shiro’s attention, but terrified that he might get someone else’s, “Shiro?”

_Still nothing. Dammit. Where WAS he?_

He took a deep breath in and out and straightened his shoulders, screwing his courage into place.

_I can do this._

He continued back the way he’d come at a run, up the corridor, sticking to shadows as he searched for Shiro. In one hand, his fingers clenched and unclenched on the untransformed bayard in a nervous fidget.

He hadn’t gone too far before he heard the scuffling noises of a fight in the stone-lined corridors. He threw himself into a rock alcove just outside of the lighted area where the fight was occurring, slowly leaning out until he could see what was happening.

Shiro faced off against a semicircle of Galra soldiers, armed with the shock sticks that were growing to be a far too familiar presence the more they went after these sort of installations. The soldiers had thier backs to Hunk, physically blocking the path between the two Paladins. Shiro’s eyes were wide, his breathing ragged, and he fought back against thier attacks in jerking almost spasmodic motions.

Shiro should have been able to break through this, or should have called to him for help before it got so bad. _Something is wrong. Very, very wrong. They must be more dangerous than they normally are. If Shiro can’t handle them, there’s no way I can. I should go to the rendezvous point. Get back up. With Lance and Pidge…_

Shiro made a pained noise, jerking Hunk out of his swirl of panicked thoughts. His eyes followed the line of how Shiro’s body hunched in pain to see his cybernetic arm was broken, trailing wires and an outer panel was shattered. Now Hunk saw that not just were his eyes wide, the pupils were pin pricks, shifting restlessly back and forth, unseeing. _Or not seeing his current surroundings at any rate._

_NO._

Hunk grit his teeth and raised the bayard, concentrating with intent to manifest the shoulder cannon. His brain was already running the calculations, the angles of how best to get in and take down as many of the soldiers as he could in his first rush.

_His friend needed him. Needed him NOW. He didn’t turn his back on people, especially not on his friends. He protected his friends, the family he chose in this life. They were more important than anything else. Shiro was one of those special, most important people in his universe._

He roared in wordless anger and fear as he came running out of his hiding spot, firing one sideways shot into the farthest soldiers. 

 _Only one shot._ He couldn’t count on Shiro not moving into the blasting radius of a second shot. He wasn’t reacting predictably. He was probably trapped in a flashback of his days as a prisoner. There was no way to know what he was seeing now.

Hunk slammed the broadside of the weapon into another soldier, glancing off of the taller alien and slamming into a second one before forcing his way through the line to Shiro’s side. The bayard de-transformed and he slipped it into his holster. It was too large for close quarters fighting, and he couldn’t risk hitting Shiro with it by accident. 

_Man, he wished he’d put more effort into his hand-to-hand combat classes._

He spun, putting Shiro behind him, his wide shoulders doing what they were meant to do in this world, protect those in need of help. _That is who he was. Who he wanted to be. Who he would become._

“Stay away from Shiro,” he huffed out, his shoulders hunching, expecting a blow at anytime as the Galra soldiers regrouped from the shock of his intrusion.

He felt Shiro shifting behind him, heard the crackle of electricity from the frayed wires of the cybernetic arm.

“I’m here Shiro,” He spoke softly, eyes watching the Galra soldiers edge in closer. “It’s Hunk. I’m right here. You’re not alone anymore.”

Shiro’s answer was only pained breathing, and Hunk felt blood trickle down his face. He must have taken a harder hit than he thought when he bounced off the second soldier trying to get to Shiro. And now Shiro still wasn’t responding to him.

_I can’t do this._

_We’re going to die here._

_I can’t let Shiro die. I can’t leave my friends alone. We can’t leave Lance and Pidge waiting, not knowing what happened to us._

_I **HAVE** to do this. _

_I **WILL** do this._

Hunk ran the calculations again, taking in the new positions of the Galra soldiers, the rusted pipes overhead. Shiro’s shaking and crackling form behind his.

**_I can do this._ **

“Just hang on, Shiro. I’m going to get us out of here.”


	2. Sequel: Shiro's View

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A fanart response ficlet to JasJuliet's second image in the series: http://jasjuliet.tumblr.com/post/148243946957/
> 
> Fic originally posted here: http://elfgrove.tumblr.com/post/148385368193

Shiro’s cybernetic arm was little more than a tangle of weakly sparking cables and jagged parts by the time he and Hunk reached the rendezvous point. Hunk was bloody and limping, tears in the fabric of his suit where the armor didn’t cover, and a huge crack across the central chest plate. _But they were alive. They were both alive, and that was the main point to focus on. That, and staying that way long enough to get back to the Castleship and Altean healing pods._

Lance and Pidge lowered their bayards when they turned the corner and it revealed the noise of their approach wasn’t a Galra patrol squad. The expressions on both their faces when they took in the state of their teammates was… best lost to the haziness of pain. _He didn’t like to worry any of his teammates, and he’d personally already caused enough emotional damage to Pidge especially._

Lance was the first to break from his shock and rush to their side. He took Hunk’s weight on his own shoulders, voice projecting some light emotion, the opposite of the fearful expression that was on his face far too smoothly for Shiro’s taste, “Hey buddy! I’d say look what the cat dragged in, but we didn’t even bring Yellow on this trip. Who told you to party so hard without me?”

Hunk gave a weak grin, responding as though there wasn’t a sheet of blood covering half of his face, “Thought you had a hot date with some alien babe. Didn’t want to interrupt.”

_They all were growing into this war far too quickly, far too seamlessly. They had trained at Galaxy Garrison with a precept for scientific exploration and goodwill first, not this. This was supposed to be a last resort with intent to retreat and rally the real soldiers, not explorers. They weren’t meant for this. They had signed up to be explorers, but now they were rebels in the far flung reaches of space, using guerrilla tactics against an empire that made the Romans and Mongols look insignificant by comparison._

Pidge was at his side in the next moment, carefully guiding him and letting him rest the bulk of his own weight on her shoulder while they limped to the scout ship that had arrived to pick them up as scheduled. Keith met them at the bay door, even though he was supposed to stay glued to the pilot’s seat. His expression was a grim mask as he helped Pidge get him up the ramp.

Shiro’s eyes kept darting back to Hunk, watching his every movement. Making sure he was still breathing, that his limbs were working underneath the pain. _Hunk had nearly gotten himself killed coming back for him. If he…_

“Stop hovering,” Pidge snapped after they’d settled into reasonable places for the ride back. “You’re the best pilot. Go fly.”

Shiro dragged his attention away from Hunk to see Keith bite his lower lip, holding in some argument before turning away and heading for the cockpit.

“This is shot, Shiro.” Pidge carefully moved pieces of his mangled arm. “I’ll salvage what I can, but I need to remove the pieces before they hurt you worse than they already have.”

“Already?” His voice sounded slow and strange to his own ears, like his mouth was stuffed with cotton he was trying to talk around it. _Did he have a concussion?_

“It’s shocking you,” He heard the tightening of Pidge’s voice as she fought not to show her own worry. “I think the armor caught most of the shrapnel, but we’ll see. I’m going to get my tools.”

He nodded slowly as she darted away, rebalancing in a now practiced motion as the ship shifted in take-off.

On the other side of the hold, Lance had wiped the blood from Hunk’s face and applied the coagulating agent to stop the flow from the head wound. Hunk’s eyes were closed and he breathed slowly, occasionally mumbling too quietly for Shiro to hear in response to Lance’s constant stream of words.

Lance removed the ruined armor chest plate with a grunt of effort, and Shiro saw his ungloved knuckles whiten as he gripped it, containing the urge to throw it in frustration. With an uninterrupted view of the torn bodysuit underneath it was clear it was damp with mingled sweat and blood from a gash that tore from Hunk’s shoulder and across the front of his chest.

Shiro took a sharp and ragged breath, panic of his own drowning in the knowledge Hunk had taken that hit protecting him while he was lost in a fugue of memories. _Hunk was younger than him. He should be protecting him, not the other way around._

“Shiro,” Hunk’s voice drifted across the space between, hoarse and confident and patient. “You’re safe now. We’re all safe. We’re headed to the Castleship. It’s going to be okay.”

Shiro just stared back in horror for a long moment. _Bloody and beaten, and still trying to reassure him._ He swallowed hard, forcing the horror from his features, but knowing the worry and pain still remained, “I know, buddy. I know.”

“Work with me here big guy,” Lance demanded Hunk’s attention back with a gentle reprimand. “We gotta get this off so I can bandage you up.”

“Right,” Hunk shifted his attention back to Lance, moving slowly and carefully to try to help his best friend peel away the blood soaked layer of bodysuit. He seemed as out of it as Shiro was, the adrenaline was draining out of both of them now that the immediate danger had passed.

When Lance turned away to pick up the bandages and a clean rag, Shiro’s vision tunneled on the Blue Paladin’s gritted teeth and the way he choked down a sob before he turned back to Hunk. A little too much white showed around his irises. Lance might be keeping his voice steady, but his face betrayed how rattled he was.

_It had been so close. Too close. And Hunk was still concerned about Shiro over himself. Sweet, kind, gentle, too young Hunk._

“Hey, don’t go to sleep on me,” Pidge was back, the smaller med kit and her toolkit already spread out in front of him. “You might be concussed. No sleeping until Coran gets a look at you, okay?”

“Okay.”

He switched between watching her patch him up and remove the ruined pieces of his cybernetic arm and Lance cleaning and bandaging Hunk’s injuries. It was a long, unreal process, where Lance tried not to break into tears and Pidge focused with the single-minded expressionless devotion she normally reserved for robots. When they were done, Lance went to the cockpit to update Keith while Pidge cleared away the tools and both sets of medical supplies.

His arm was no longer sparking, the remaining dangling wires capped with safety material and a couple of long core extenders the last evidence of the missing prosthetic.

Pidge had warned him not to fall asleep or let Hunk sleep while she and Lance were away, so he shoved himself to his feet to move to kneel next to Hunk, carefully pushing back his hair to examine the younger man’s injuries up close. Shiro felt the muscles at the corners of his eyes tightening as he saw the extent of the damage in detail. Hunk’s eyelids fluttered, not asleep but not fully conscious either, he was fighting to stay both awake and present.

_Hunk had risked so much for him, the most damaged and most experienced Paladin. He should be protecting all of them. If one of them fell, it should be Shiro. The Black Lion’s loyalty was torn anyways, there was probably a better match than either he or Zarkon waiting for her out in the universe. He was the disposable Paladin, not Hunk. The kindness and protective spirit might be a part of Hunk’s nature and the quintessence of Yellow Lion, but he needed to survive to fight alongside the rest of the team. He could not fall. After today, Shiro was afraid Hunk didn’t realize how vital he was to the rest of the team and to the universe._

“I can fix it.” Hunk mumbled, reaching an arm out and stopping just short of his fingers actually brushing the sad remains of the Galra tech that had been a part of Shiro for so long, “Your arm. I can fix it.”

“Hunk,” Shiro chastised softly. “You need to heal up yourself before you fix _anyone_.”

“Really,” Hunk countered, eyes flicking over the ruined pieces. “I can do it. Best engineer in the Garrison, you know? I was only ranked so low because of my motion sickness issues.”

“Just rest and focus on you getting better.”

_How was this guy so selfless? How could he survive in the world with such a soft heart? How was he going to survive a war like this?_

Hunk groaned, trying to straighten up and failing, “Might need Pidge’s help a little. She’s spent more time with Galra tech than I have.”

“Hunk…”

“You can trust me.” Hunk’s eyes fluttered closed again, and his breathing became more ragged, “I’m not the same guy that suggested handing over the Blue Lion. I’m strong too.”

Shiro hugged him as best he could with one arm and leaned his forehead against Hunk’s, cursing himself for not paying more attention to his troubles and misgivings. _Just because Hunk’s pain was less obvious, didn’t mean he wasn’t just as in need of support._ He had been deficient in looking after their gentlest Paladin. _That was going to change._

“I know you are,” Shiro said softly. “I trust you, Hunk. You’re so good I forget to worry about you as much as I should. You’ve got to hang in there. We need you, okay?”

“’Kay,” Hunk mumbled.

“No falling asleep,” Shiro warned, suddenly remembering his marching orders. “Have to make it to the infirmary. Try some new Altean medicines.”

_I have to keep him conscious and talking. We can’t lose him._

“Ugh. Back to food goo for a while I guess.”

“It’s probably good for us. Tastes bad enough.”

_He has to survive._

“It’s not that bad.”

“Yeah it is.”

_I have to make sure he knows how much the entire team values him._

“You’re just spoiled by my cooking.”

“Probably true.”

_I have to make sure he knows he’s vital and valued. He has to want to survive. I can’t let him do this, ever again._


End file.
